What Happened When Rachel Complained About Cassie
by haleygirl
Summary: Kurt is tired of listening to Rachel's pity party. Contains spanking.
1. Chapter 1

It started shortly before the Winter Showcase. Rachel came home from her afternoon dance class boiling mad—she'd had the whole ride on the subway home to replay what Cassandra July had said to her, and by the time she got to her stop had decided she'd been totally out of line.

Kurt was stirring pasta at the stove when he heard her stomping into the apartment. "Cassandra July's a bitch!" Rachel raged.

Kurt sighed. "Well, this we knew. What now?" He was growing a little tired of hearing Rachel complain about the school he'd been desperately trying to get into.

"You won't believe what she did to me. All I did was ask to drink a sip of water while we were practicing the new combination I told you about—and she publicly humiliated me! She called me out in front of the entire class!"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Well that sounds like an amateur mistake."

"What?"  
"Rachel, you know she's tough. You can't expect her to suddenly not be."

"You're taking her side?"

"I'm just saying, she's clearly aiming to increase your stamina. You may not like her methods, but you've certainly worked harder at dance the past couple months than I ever heard you doing in high school."

Rachel grunted at that. "Stamina?! I worked myself to the bone in high school! I was in 23 clubs! I had leadership positions!"

"Yeah, you were really good at being bossy in high school, I remember."

"Kurt!"

"You just don't like that she's taking you down a notch and making you work on your weaknesses is all."

"I'm not—weak—in dance…" Rachel defended.

"See you can't even admit you're imperfect at something. How are you supposed to learn?"

"I'd be a great student for her if she'd get off my back. She criticizes me more than practically anybody else—"

"That means she thinks you're worth teaching, Rachel. If she didn't think you were talented, she wouldn't work you so hard."

"By making me feel TERRIBLE every day?"

"It's a performing arts school, Rachel. They have to break you down so you get out of your bad habits—"  
"Bad habits?"

"Yeah, like thinking you have nothing to learn."

Rachel scoffed and plopped on the couch. "I can't believe you're taking her side. I got a Winter Showcase Invitation—I should be-"

"What, getting invited to the Winter Showcase as a freshman means you get to stop working hard? How are you supposed to do Broadway if as soon as you get one opportunity or one great performance you stop pushing yourself?"

"I never said it meant—"  
"That invitation has totally gone to your head."

"I'm allowed to be proud—"  
"I didn't say you weren't! I'm just saying, you don't always do so well in these situations."

"What situations?"  
"When you get a win. You rest on your laurels."  
Rachel sulked. "I don't know what you're talking about."  
"Honey, look. I love you, and I just want what's best for you. And while I agree she's kinda a bitch, the fact is, Cassandra July is probably a better teacher than Mr. Schue ever was for you."  
"How can you say that?"

"Come on, Rachel. You know he had faults."  
"Well—of course, but…"

"And I think he was great at building community, and introducing a range of musical genres, and all that. But can you… really say you learned that much from him?"

"I learned plenty."

"You were his star, Rachel. He talked a good game about everyone getting a chance, but…"

"You're still jealous of my solos?!"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "No. I don't care about that anymore, I'm saying-"

"Blaine got plenty of solos too!"

"Yeah. Proving my point here, Rachel. Blaine showed up and had a solo every week. How often did Artie get a solo, and he was there from the beginning! Or Mike?"

"Mike Chang's not a singer!"

"Well, maybe if he had anyone pushing him more he'd have gotten to get to be one! He was great in _West Side Story_! But it wasn't Mr. Schue—it was Artie and Coach Beiste who saw that in him and nurtured it. Mr. Schue could have gotten more out of him if he hadn't been lazy always falling back on giving you and Blaine every other lead."

"Oh this is about Blaine then."

"God. No, Rachel." Kurt was getting exasperated.

"You said you were over him. You said you two were getting past the awkwardness to be friends again even—"

"We are. This is not about that."  
"Then what is it?"  
"I'd give anything to have a teacher care enough about me to tear my performance to pieces so I could get better, Rachel. I love you. But if you're going to be the best, if you're going to be Broadway material—yeah, you can't just stop in the middle of class for a drink of water, and you certainly can't get into a power struggle every week with your dance teacher."

"She's the one who acts like—"  
"Like she's in charge? Yeah, Rachel. She acts like she's in charge of dance class, because she is. It's her class, she gets to make the rules. That's what I'm saying. You can't pretend like you can call the shots in her class."

Rachel slumped, pouting. Her voice became small. "…she said… I'm not good enough yet."

Kurt chuckled. He crossed over to the couch and sat down next to Rachel. "Did you expect to be?"  
Rachel was offended. "Kurt!"

"Mr. Schue really screwed you over Rachel. You can't even take the slightest criticism. Being a performer is all about getting criticized. You're a freshman, and dance is your weakest subject. Of course you're not good enough yet."

"Well I told her I would sing at Winter Showcase." Rachel shot back.

Kurt arched his eyebrows. "Well I guess you told her."  
Rachel nodded, defiant. Then she thought about it, and slumped.

Kurt shook his head. "Honestly Rachel? Sometimes you tell me these stories and…" he hesitated, unsure of whether he should go further.

Rachel waited for more. "And—and what?"

Kurt shrugged. "And if I was Cassie July I probably would have taken you over my knee months ago."


	2. Chapter 2

That shut Rachel up for awhile. She blushed. _Maybe some things do go to my head. A little._

Rachel squirmed a bit, uncomfortable. "W-well you're… not her. And anyway, a teacher can't—"

"Uh huh." Kurt knew he had made his point.

Rachel couldn't just sit next to him. She stood and walked over to the refrigerator, digging through it for nothing in particular.

Kurt watched her. Maybe he should have been more understanding, but he had been listening to her whine about Cassie for months now. She needed to get over it. "You mad at me?" he asked.

Rachel pouted, but relented. She didn't always like hearing what he had to say, but he was always honest with her, and she appreciated that. "…No." She shut the refrigerator door without taking anything from it.

Satisfied at having won this around Kurt clapped his hands together, grateful to change the subject. "Come on, I made some pasta. Between surviving dance class and raging about it you have to worked up an appetite."

Rachel smiled. He had a way of getting under her skin sometimes, but she knew they would always make up. "I wasn't raging. I was just…. Saying."

"Right." Kurt huffed, smiling though.

Rachel pulled out the fruit bowl. "I'll make a fruit salad."

"Ah. Peace offering." Kurt teased. "We can save some for Cassie and you can make up with her too."

"Shut up." Rachel said, smiling.

"Hey, behave—I meant what I said before." Kurt said, in mock sternness.

"Oh. Sorry – sir." Rachel giggled and Kurt chuckled good-naturedly as he went back to cooking. Rachel eyed him a moment and then started taking out fruit to cut up. The thought gnawed at her though. _It's just an expression. A joke, really._

They ate dinner that night without another mention of it. Kurt told Rachel all about the in-fighting at and how as a lowly intern he was trying to stay neutral. _He's so much smarter than me sometimes._ Not that Rachel was a gossip—frankly, she'd gone a long time without too many friends to speak of so she'd never quite gotten into the habit of gossiping about them. But she could see how tempting it would be to take sides while working for your fashion idols and get into a mess. _Kurt knows he's still working his way up and doesn't act like he's better than he is yet. That's why Isabel Wright has taken this big interest in him. Of course she wouldn't give him the time of day if he busted into there acting like he owned the place. …Do I act like that sometimes?_

Rachel chewed her food, remembering the many scoldings she'd received in dance class. Truth be told, her theatre history and Shakespeare professors weren't exactly laid back with her either. Cassie was by far the worst, but she'd shown up without homework twice in theatre history and the Shakespeare prof was always staring her down whenever he caught her daydreaming out the window while he was giving a lecture. _But it's not like I'm looking to be some kind of classical actress. I'm supposed to be studying musical theatre, not Elizabethan drama. It's not my fault it's a required class._

"Rachel?"

"What? Oh—sorry. I—I guess I… tuned out for a bit there." She didn't know why she suddenly felt overly apologetic.

Kurt looked at her funny. "It's okay. It's- been a long day for both of us I guess. We should get ready for bed." He stood up to collect the dishes.

"Thanks for making dinner."

"Well you made fruit salad."

"Yeah, but that took like 5 minutes." Rachel countered, uncharacteristically modest. _I'd probably be eating garbage and wasting my money half the time here without Kurt cooking so much. What would I do without him?_

"You did plenty." Kurt dismissed, opening the dishwasher.

"…You cook a lot."

"I like to."

"I'm just saying… I appreciate it."

Kurt smiled. "Well I was on my own with my dad starting in third grade. Probably would have starved if I hadn't taught myself to make things that weren't barbecued."

"You're just…"

"What?"  
"I don't know. Responsible, Kurt. You—you're better at adulting than I am."

Kurt put a hand on Rachel's shoulder. "You're doing fine."  
"I would have left the dishes out. I'm a terrible roommate."  
"What's bringing all this on?"  
"I don't know. I guess. What you said before? …Maybe I have been… kind of spoiled about school. Maybe about everything. My dads pay most of the rent here, and tuition—maybe I've been taking things for granted."

Kurt grinned. "You're not spoiled. Well… not much." Rachel playfully punched his arm. "God you remind me of Blaine sometimes, Rachel."

Rachel swallowed. "I do?"

"Yeah, whenever he'd get on my nerves he'd turn around and be so hard on himself about something I couldn't hold anything against him."

"You were right about Mr. Schue favoring him. It wasn't fair."

Kurt decided not to point out that his main point had been how Mr. Schue had favored her. "Well Blaine's talented. Can't fault the guy for wanting to have winning competition sets, I guess."

"You think it went to his head?"

"Heh. Well, anytime it did I made a point of keeping him in check."

"Oh." Back when they were dating, Rachel had been the only one of their friends who knew about Kurt's particular way of keeping Blaine "in check." She had walked in on him punishing him one day, which had been very awkward— and at first she thought the whole arrangement was pretty odd. But over time it had just become… normal to her. She didn't talk about it with anyone because she never wanted to break their confidence or embarrass Blaine. Most of the time she didn't even think about it, but sometimes she would see Kurt quietly whisper a reprimand in Blaine's ear and know he was likely to be in trouble later. If she thought they needed privacy for that she'd try to help out by talking Finn into taking a little longer getting back to the house that day. If Blaine was getting a spanking, he'd hate risking Finn finding out about it. It was probably awful enough getting a spanking in the first place without having other people find out.

Rachel had been spanked a few times as a very little girl but Hiram and Leroy found they got themselves so emotional over hurting her that they had to find other ways to discipline her. Even when she had a time out or got grounded as a kid she noticed that most of the time they seemed to feel more bad about her punishment than she did. And a good deal of the time she had a way of sweet-talking her way out of trouble in the first place. _Maybe it's no wonder I act a little spoiled sometimes._

Twice after accidentally learning their secret, Kurt decided Blaine had screwed up enough that he spanked him right in front of Rachel again. It was still awkward— Kurt had no qualms about baring his bottom right there in front of her and she always felt a little guilty for… just watching. Kurt definitely knew how to get a message across—both times Blaine was definitely teary by the end, and not just from embarrassment. Both times she felt like she should say something comforting to Blaine and then never knew what to say. "Don't talk at him right now." Kurt would admonish, making his chastised boyfriend feel even smaller as he led him over to a corner of the room. Kurt would make small talk with Rachel for a bit while Blaine sniffled in the corner to "think about his actions." Rachel found the whole thing kind of fascinating—what teenage boy would put up with this? But Blaine always seemed perfectly content and madly in love with Kurt when she saw him the next day. _I guess it just worked for them._ Blaine got something out of this discipline. Structure? Accountability? _The breakup had to have wrecked him, aside from everything else he's lost, he doesn't have anyone… helping him in that way anymore._ She felt sorry for both of them, but with the cheating and roommate bias she'd definitely sided with Kurt since the breakup. But thinking of it now her heart did kind of go out to Blaine. It had to have been a lot to deal with.

"What do you think he… does now?" she asked, not sure if she really should.

"You mean—about…"

"Yeah."

Kurt blushed a little, in spite of himself. "Oh. I—I don't know. I'm sure he… just does his best, without that."

Rachel nodded. "You think it—really helped him? I mean, I know you both agreed—"  
It was Kurt's turn to fidget. They had both been rather good at avoiding talking about Blaine these days, despite the whole "we're sort of going to be friends again or something" thing. "Wh-what brought all of this up?"

Rachel shrugged, embarrassed herself. "Your comment, earlier, I guess," she admitted.

"…I think it helped him… stay focused sometimes. And stop texting Sebastian." He said, rueful.

"Did it happen often?" Rachel couldn't help pressing the subject even if it was clear Kurt wasn't wild about going down this line of thought.

Kurt shrugged. How often was often? "…sometimes. I mean, it was hard for him after Dalton."

"What do you mean?"

"They were really strict at Dalton. You'd get a demerit for being 2 minutes late to class. Way more homework. And it wasn't just academics. The Warblers ran their meetings really intensely too. Blaine didn't have time to step out of line."

"Transferring to McKinley was a big change then."

"Yeah, and I think he was nervous it'd make him sloppy. He wanted to stay… operating at that level of performance, both in school and as an artist. And of course, in our relationship. He wasn't subservient or anything, he just… wanted me to step in if he was getting off track with things. Like if he said he was going to meet up with me at Breadstix, he wanted me to make a deal of it if he was late or got into a habit of looking at his phone too much. He thought it… made him better, I guess? I don't know if that makes any sense."

Rachel squirmed. It did make sense. More than she wanted it to.


	3. Chapter 3

Kurt headed into his corner of the apartment to change into pajamas. As Rachel followed suit and went to her bureau to pull out some of her own, she couldn't shake the memories she had of Blaine's punishments. She hadn't thought of them in a long time. She wondered what it felt like to get a spanking. Obviously it hurt. But did it bring relief, after? Did it unburden a person from guilt? Because she might have a strong personality, but the guilt factor after she screwed up could be brutal. She wondered how Blaine was doing, having cheated on his fiancé and not having anyone to punish him for a misstep like before. Certainly he must be wrecked with guilt about it. She remembered back in high school when she had cheated on Finn with Puck and how it just ended up with Finn being so angry and her feeling like a horrible person… _Ugh. Bad memories. Maybe if he could have just… done something to me to address it and then I'd have been free to go on without all that guilt…_

"Hey Kurt…" the words came out of her mouth before she'd really settled on intending to say them.

"Yeah?" Kurt called out from his side of the apartment.

"Could you… come here?"

She heard the creak in the floorboards as Kurt crossed over to her.

"Yeah, what do you need?" Kurt asked absently.

Rachel slowly turned to him.

"Did you- mean what you said before?"

"What did I say?" Kurt yawned.

"About Cassie. About how you'd have punished me if I was her."

Kurt looked at Rachel for what felt like a long time. "… well, yes, Rachel. To be honest."

"You'd spank me."

"If I were in that role, yes."

Rachel swallowed. Kurt eyed her, curious. "So… I guess you're lucky I'm not, huh?"

Rachel nodded slowly. "You'd… do it, like you… always did with Blaine?"

"Rachel, why are you—"

"Over your knee and…" her face reddened. "And…" her eyes darted away. "And bare bottom?"

Kurt thought she looked very small suddenly. "I would… do it properly, yes."

Rachel's breathing became shallower. She couldn't believe they were having this conversation.

Kurt was thoughtful. "Rach—didn't your dads spank you sometimes?"

"Not since—I don't know, preschool?"

"Not even when you were suspended?"

Rachel hadn't thought about that in a long while. "I think they might have… thought about it, that time. I just had to stay in my room, and honestly… it wasn't much of a punishment since I always hung out there anyway."

Kurt felt a wave of compassion for Rachel suddenly. _Between Mr. Schue and her dads, no wonder she gets out of hand sometimes._

"I was pretty angry with you after that, you know. If I'd realized your dads weren't even going to hardly punish you for I'd definitely have wanted to take the matter into my own hands. I just assumed—"

"I'm awful!"

"Rachel, come on." Kurt soothed. "You're not—"

"I am—Kurt! Sometimes even I can't believe how I behave! Honestly, I'm jealous of—" she stopped short.

Kurt stared her down. "Of… what, Rachel? Just say it."

Rachel squirmed, unable to maintain eye contact. ""Of that… arrangement you had with Blaine."

"You think you want me to spank you?"

"Maybe?" God this was embarrassing. "Sometimes."

"You and I are not a couple, Rachel."

"Why is that required?" Rachel asked, braver.


	4. Chapter 4

"It—it was just… part of us being together."

"You told me once it wasn't part of what you did when you were intimate."

"Well… not really." Kurt felt his face warm up. He wasn't in the habit of going into the details of his sex life, even with Rachel. And sex with Blaine was sort of a sore subject these days…

"So it was something more."

"Blaine trusted me because of our connection. It was… a very personal thing between us."

"There's no one I trust more than you right now." Rachel confessed. "You're my best friend and… I know I've always been kind of a handful but, with everything that's gone down with Finn and starting college… it's all been overwhelming and maybe I just… sometimes…. Need someone to call me out on how I'm acting."

Kurt chuckled. "Well you know you can always count on me to have an opinion. I do that for you already, except I don't know if you always like it."

"It's not about doing something I like. It's about… what if you could do something I—maybe need?"

Rachel squirmed as she spoke, hardly believing they were talking about this.

Kurt pursed his lips. "You're saying if we made an arrangement… like the one I used to have with Blaine… you'd let me punish you?"

Rachel looked Kurt over, hesitating. But then she nodded, ever so slightly. "I'm thinking it could be… good for me." she spoke almost in a whisper.

Kurt sat down on her bed. This was a lot to take in.

"Rachel, you know I care about you." he said slowly.

"You care for me more than… a lot of other people. Like even people that I think of as being on my side, like Mr. Schue and my dads. Maybe I do need…" Rachel's throat went dry. It was so hard to even say it.

"…a firm hand every now and then?"

Rachel thought she might like to crawl under her covers and hide about now. "Ex—exactly."

Kurt let out a long breath, thinking. In the early days of Glee club he probably would have relished the idea of putting Rachel in her place. But their relationship was different now.

"Y-you don't have to agree to anything tonight. It's j-just an idea is all."

Kurt nodded.

"I have big dreams, Kurt. And you're right. I can't let anything get in the way of them—including my ego and my …weaknesses. Maybe I need someone… keeping my head in the game more."

"If I did this… you probably wouldn't like it, most of the time. Blaine didn't."

"He could have said no way."

"Well, yeah, we had a—a safeword." Kurt conceded. "He never used it, but he still definitely didn't… enjoy getting punished."

"I wouldn't expect to. I've seen—I mean, you obviously can be… pretty stern when you want to be."

"I was brought up a little bit old fashioned, I guess, and I just… see it as- if you're going to do it, might as well do it… thoroughly and get a point across." Kurt said. "Honey, you know I'd walk through traffic for you, you're the most talented person I've ever met. If I didn't have you I'd be all alone in this city."

"We work together, Kurt. Obviously not… romantically, but as a friendship, we balance each other out. This would just be an extension of that."

Kurt looked at Rachel. He sort of admired her bravery—asking for what she needed. "Okay. I'll—I'll think about it."


	5. Chapter 5

Kurt woke up early the next morning. He tiptoed over to Rachel's side of the apartment and stole a glance behind her curtain. She was curled up around her pillow, sleeping peacefully. He really did care for her. _I'm being selfish, thinking about how awkward I might feel. If this is what she wants, well… who am I not to provide it?_

Resolved, Kurt went through his morning routine quietly so as not to wake her. He checked the schedule on the refrigerator that listed all of the times Rachel had classes. Usually on Tuesdays they went to the breakfast place on the corner. _Not today._ But she would have taken a shower the night before and set her alarm ahead to make extra time for that. He pulled out some cereal, and some of that leftover fruit salad, and, as expected, the sound of her alarm reverberated through the apartment. He set a place for her and then set about eating his breakfast. He watched her sleepily pad across the apartment to go brush her teeth. He took a deep breath as he heard the sound of the water running. He doubted she knew what she was getting into, but he didn't doubt that she was right that she needed someone to provide that structure. _We'd have to keep it from Brody though, I'm not going to justify myself to that diva._ He ruminated over other potential obstacles as he ate his cereal.

Rachel emerged from the bathroom more refreshed, pulling her dark hair into a ponytail. "What's this? I thought we were going to get the two-for-one special down the street?" she asked.

"I'll do it, Rachel."

"What?"

"I'll do what you asked. Last night."

Rachel's eyes widened. She wordlessly came over to the table and sat down. They were silent for a moment.

"I made breakfast here because we need some time to talk this out before you go to class."

Rachel nodded.

"You're… sure… you want this?"

Rachel gulped. "I—don't know if I could ever be sure, but—I can't know if I don't try, right?"

"We'd have to set a safe word, so if I ever made you uncomfortable-"

"Yeah. I… trust you."

"With Blaine, I—we—made some basic rules, started slow. I just used my hand for a long time."

The thought of other implements hadn't even crossed Rachel's mind, and that definitely sounded intimidating.

"Y-yeah. That sounds…smart."

Kurt heard the nerves in her voice. "I'd never throw a curve ball in, like a new punishment or anything without talking to you about it first. I know this is—kinda scary—so I just want you to know, once we started… Blaine pretty much always knew… what he could expect."  
Rachel swallowed, then nodded. Suddenly she tensed. "I'd never want Finn to know. Or Brody or—"

"Yeah." Kurt jumped on the thought. "Me either. I can only agree to this if it's… confidential."

Rachel seemed relieved at that. She ate her cereal as Kurt finished up his, thinking.

"I just… thought—if I knew I was going to get punished, I'd probably avoid doing certain things."

"I get it Rachel. You don't owe me an explanation."

Rachel nodded. This was awkward, but Kurt was making her feel less so about it.

"And I think Blaine would tell you, even when you know, sometimes you'll still slip up, and that it's okay and I understand that."

Rachel poked at her cereal. She sort of wanted to skip to the part where she'd have herself under control and not make stupid mistakes.

Kurt cleared his throat, washing his bowl out in the sink. "You don't really know what punishment is though, Rachel. You don't even remember the last time you got your bottom warmed as a kid. You can't—avoid something if you don't really get what it is you're avoiding."

Rachel looked back up at Kurt, confused. "What do you mean?"  
"I mean, if we're going to do this, we need to do this. And start today." Kurt forced his relaxed posture up into a more formal state. He tried to make his voice gentle, but firm. "You need a good spanking. This morning, before we both change our minds."

Rachel stiffened. This was happening fast. "I haven't—done anything—"  
"Come on, Rachel, you know all the things you've been doing that are wrong or you wouldn't have suggested this—"

"We just- agreed to this like 3 minutes ago, you can't just punish me for stuff that happened before—"

"I can, and I will, Rachel."

Rachel's mouth hung open, startled by Kurt's stern tone. She didn't know what to say.

Kurt cleaned up the rest of his silverware as though nothing had happened. He let her process the information. _It's the first time. Of course it's going to be hard._

Finally he laid a hand on her shoulder, leaning down to speak to her quietly. "Finish up your breakfast and clean up. You have five minutes. Meet me in my room."


	6. Chapter 6

Kurt paced a bit in his room. Truth be told, he was nervous, but he knew Rachel needed him to be resolute. _If she's going to chicken out, we need to know now._

He made his bed to keep himself busy as the minutes ticked by. Eventually he heard the sound of the water coming from the sink—Rachel was cleaning her plates. It was a good sign. Obedience came a lot easier to Blaine than he suspected it did to Rachel. _Things are going to be different here._ He would probably have to be stricter, he reasoned. She might be saying she wanted this now but it'd remain to be seen how she'd take having to adjust to his having more authority in her life. It would do no good to throw too many expectations on her at once. _One step at a time._

He looked up from adjusting his pillows when he heard the quiet screech of the privacy curtain opening. Rachel was still in her pajamas, looking smaller than usual, hovering at the edge of the curtain.

"Hi." She breathed out, not knowing how to begin this.

"Hi honey." Kurt said. He took care to walk slowly, not wanting to startle her. She looked nervous enough. "It's okay. Come here." He met her halfway and she took a couple steps forward. "You finished with your dishes?"

Rachel nodded.

"Good girl."

There was a breath and he held out his hand, which she took. He slowly led her to the bed and she didn't pull away, but she didn't exactly come along casually either.

Rachel swallowed. "Y-you said I should…come here."

Kurt nodded. "I did."

He could see she was squirming inside, trying to keep her anxiety down. "Y-you're really going to—" she bit her lip.

He took her other hand, forcing eye contact. "I think I need to, Rachel."

She looked up at him, unsure. Kurt ran his thumbs against her hands, trying to comfort her. "If you need me to stop, say 'McKinley,' okay? Does that work?"

Rachel nodded, trying to summon some courage.

Kurt cleared his throat. "Young lady, you haven't been behaving your best recently."

Rachel looked away. "We never… discussed any rules." She defended, half-heartedly.

Kurt's eyebrows arched. "That's true. I think this is going to be the first of many days we're going to have to discuss expectations, Rachel." He held her hands firmly, watching as she tried to avoid his gaze. "Do your dads expect you to be courteous to others? Act appropriately around authority at the school they're paying thousands of dollars for you to go to?"

Rachel made a face. "I—I guess."

"You guess? You think they'd be happy if you failed Cassandra July's class because of your insubordinate behavior?"

"I haven't been insub—"

"Do you?"

Rachel huffed. "Well, if I failed because she's a jerk and I got a little… sassy pointing it out—"

Kurt wasn't going to let her get away that easily. "Do you think they'd be happy to hear you failed a class due to your behavior?"

Rachel pouted. "…No."

"If Mr. Schue had called them during high school he was kicking you out of Glee for your behavior, they wouldn't have been happy, right?"  
"No, but Mr. Schuster would never have—"

"They'd want an explanation."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "I suppose. They always want to talk things out."

"Well if you fail this class they're going to want an explanation. Think that'd be a comfortable conversation, Rachel? Explaining to them that even though they've been putting away money their whole lives so you could have this opportunity, you couldn't get it together to show respect for a teacher? You really expect to get a passing grade in the course if you're not meeting her basic expectations?"

"…no."

Kurt released a hand to move her chin and force her to look at him. "I think," he said quietly, "you're going to want to think about calling me Sir. When we do this, I mean."

Rachel felt butterflies in her stomach, looking up at Kurt.

"I-" the awkwardness was overwhelming, she couldn't just say that.

"This is going to feel weird for awhile Rachel. But you're going to get over that. You're going to focus on the things I tell you to focus on. Like showing courtesy. Starting with courtesy towards me."

Rachel shrunk a little. "Ye-es… sir," she whispered.

Kurt nodded, satisfied. "You're scattered, Rachel. You're running into trouble because you haven't had anyone to hold you accountable for things like that. We can negotiate your other rules later—you'll be a part of deciding on how many and what's fair to a point, I promise. But things like that are not going to be negotiable. And your dads might have gone really easy on you before, but you know they wouldn't have thought that was acceptable, right?"

"…No sir." It was startling how the words came tumbling out her mouth. Rachel chewed her lip.

"So we might not have started out with this expectation, but it was already an expectation you knew you needed to meet. And one you knew- even if no one was going to do it for you—you deserved correction for if you didn't meet it."

This was awful. Rachel felt 2 feet tall. "Y-yessssir," she whispered.

"Well I've been listening to you talk about mouthing off to Cassie July for weeks, and I'm sure there's other professors you haven't exactly been a model student for all the time either, am I right?"

"I haven't—"

"You told me you faked that you'd been sick as an excuse for not having your classical monologue memorized yet a couple weeks ago."

Rachel couldn't believe he was holding that against her. "I'm not—that class isn't that important—"

"All your classes are important, Rachel. They all cost money, and they all add up to whether or not you get your degree. You know that."

Rachel was starting to find this pretty embarrassing. "Okay. I get your point."

"Good." Kurt sat down on the bed, pulling Rachel closer. Suddenly he was all business. "We have a little time to take care of this properly, and then you're going to need to get ready for school. Tonight we'll talk further and discuss the greater details of this new arrangement."

Rachel stiffened. He was really going to do it. "I—I get your point Kurt, but…"

Kurt ignored her, untying the strings on her pajama pants. She stiffened in horror, looking down at his hands. "Girls who need reminders of their expectations get punished, Rachel. Or at least, they're going to, from now on." He pushed the pajama pants down, revealing her white cotton panties underneath. Rachel gasped, but hardly had a moment to process as he pulled her over his knee, her torso laying across his bed. This was really happening.

"I—I—I'm sorry? Okay? I get what you're trying to—"

Kurt lifted the back of her panties and bared her so quickly she squealed.

"KURT! You can't—" she was overwhelmed by embarrassment, trying to get up to pull them back up, but he held her down in place. She couldn't believe she had her bare bottom across his knee, about to get a spanking like some little kid. What had she gotten herself into?

"I can and I will, Rachel. You wanted some accountability, you're going to have to deal with a little embarrassment sometimes. It's part of being punished. I told you how I'd do this. You know how I disciplined Blaine."

Knowing in theory turned out to be a lot different than feeling the panic of knowing there was suddenly nothing between your bare bottom and the hand ready to chastise it. "Kurt— " she grasped at straws looking for a defense, looking for some mercy. "I'm sorry. Just—it'll hurt," she faltered.

Kurt rolled his eyes, adjusting her bottom over his lap. "Yes, Rachel. I expect it will." He took a breath, lifted his hand and swatted down hard on her bare bottom, sending her torso leaping up. She gasped, caught off guard. He spanked again, in the same place, eliciting a whimper. _Now that I have your attention, little lady…_ Kurt set into a medium rhythm of swats, spreading them out across Rachel's fair cheeks, which were quickly squirming. Blaine, in a similar position, had often put on a mask of stubbornness at first, trying not to whine or whimper or cry until he just couldn't take it anymore, but Rachel was outright squealing after ten or twelve well-placed slaps to her fanny. She wasn't used to this, and more, she didn't have Blaine's misplaced need for a certain level of dignity. This hurt. And she wasn't going to take it without saying so.

"Ow. Ow oww owww owwowwwwww." She started begging. "Okay I OW I – I get it. I'll shut up in dance class. Noooo. Please, I get it! I'm sorry."

This being her first time, Kurt wasn't going to give her anything near the worst he could dish out. But he also wasn't so new to this that he was going to be swayed into stopping at the first crocodile tears from the suddenly reformed.

"Good." He responded, smacking his hand sharply against her sit spots. "You're going to be behaving your best in all of your classes now," he scolded, punctuating every other word with a swat.

Rachel whimpered, writhing into his comforter. Her bottom was feeling fiery, and she just wanted Kurt to let up already. She wondered how many times he'd spanked Blaine like this. How many times she might have seen him after, not necessarily knowing he had a sore bottom. It was certainly embarrassing, she thought, wincing as Kurt changed up the rhythm. She would have to go on the subway after this, to class—

"Owwwww" she whined, her feet twisting against each other uncomfortably. "Stoooop. Kurrrrt. OWWWwww." She felt tears stream down her face, thinking how this pain would likely linger, how she wouldn't want anyone to know…

SMACK-SLAP. "You feeling it, then, young lady?" Kurt scolded, taking her attention back to the smarting sensation across her bottom.

"Yesssssirrrrr," she whimpered.

"Good. I think—" SMACK "—you'll be feeling this—" SLAP-SWAT "for a good part of the rest of the morning, too." Kurt watched her reddening bottom, aiming for areas that were still merely pink.

Rachel moaned miserably, crying through the punishing smacks to her bare bottom. It hurt more than she thought it would. She wasn't sure what she thought it would be like, but she was sure it hurt more, more than whatever had seemed reasonable before. It was hard to focus-

SMACK SMACK SMACK. "Owwwww." Rachel blubbered, whatever fight left in her leaving. "I'm s-s-s-ssorrry siiirrr S-sssorrrryyyowwwwwwww"

Kurt paused, flexing the sting from his hand as she cried into his bed. He sighed. She was going to be a lot of work.


	7. Chapter 7

"Okay Rachel. You're okay." Kurt soothed. He helped her up and pulled her clothes back up. She cried into his shoulder a moment, willing the sting across her bottom to leave. She tried to speak but it came out in blubbering and just sheltered her face back in his arms.

"You need to get dressed now. You've got to catch the train soon so you can get to your dialects class."

Rachel nodded, wiping at her face.

"We can talk more tonight, Rach. Right now you keep focused on the rest of your day, okay?"

Rachel sniffled, looking up at him. "Yessir." She whispered. She slowly headed back to her side of the loft, finding walking just a little bit more awkward than usual. She felt…chastised. Tired. She rubbed her bottom absently, hoping the sting would stop soon.  
Kurt was at the door with her coat and her water bottle when she came back out. He walked with her down to the train, half-focused on a text chain with Chase and some other people from Vogue dot com. It was weird, Rachel felt, to have had this happen and be walking to the subway with Kurt as though it were any other day. But she was grateful for the space. If he forced her to really talk right now, she wasn't sure what she would say. Talking to Blaine was out of the question, her loyalties were to Kurt even if they were repairing their friendship, but if there was one person she thought would understand right now… _Ah well_.

Kurt noted that Rachel opted to stand rather than sit on the train, but otherwise didn't seem any different. She probably wouldn't exactly have it in her to thank him, but there was something satisfying in knowing he was helping her this way. He felt… useful. And if this meant he was going to be able to get Rachel to do more of her half of the chores around the loft too, hey that wouldn't be so bad either.

"Want to order in tonight?" Rachel asked as they approached the stop where Kurt would have to get off to transfer.

Kurt nodded. "We could try that new Indian place."

"Yeah." Rachel squeezed his hand. "Text me what you want and I'll order it on my way back. I'll have a lot of homework tonight."

Kurt nodded and kissed her cheek. "Looking forward to it," he said as the doors opened, and then he was off to his internship in a flash.

Rachel took a deep breath as more people crowded in and the doors closed. Hopefully he knew she appreciated him; she honestly didn't know what she would have done if she had had to stay in the NYADA dorms back in the fall. The train ride wasn't always a picnic, but it was worth it to be living with someone who really cared. She guessed this first spanking would probably not be her last. She guessed Kurt would have some ideas about rules that would irritate her. But she could always make it stop if it went too far, she reasoned. And there was something attractive about knowing she could absolve herself of things, that Kurt was going to be on her team no matter what and help her through stuff. She wasn't sure what Brody would think, or Finn, but it didn't matter. _This is between me and Kurt._ There was no one she trusted more, right now, and nothing that mattered more than reaching her dreams. _Kurt's going to help me get there._


End file.
